Building Usage Policy and Procedures

Building Usage Policy

Policy Statement

The Trexler Library exists primarily to serve the academic needs of Muhlenberg College. It is the Library's policy to support, maintain, and manage the Trexler Library facilities in the best interest of the full Muhlenberg College community and, as appropriate and allowable by licensing, to provide open access to the library collections and services as good neighbors to the greater public. This policy governs activities related to general building usage, posting of advertising and outreach materials, area noise activities, room scheduling and usage, food and drink in the library, destruction of property, and related usage procedures.

Purpose of Policy

The purpose of this policy is to provide guidelines for appropriate, unbiased building usage, to address specific usage concerns, and to outline appropriate behavior when using the library facility.

Building Usage Procedures

Purpose of Procedures

The purpose of the building usage procedures is to clearly articulate expected behaviors, activities, and appropriate used of the Trexler Library building.

Procedures

General Building Usage

The library serves as a central place for research, study, reading, intellectual exchange, new information development and academic curiosity. Activities within the library will be in support of these usage responsibilities. All library users will be expected to behave accordingly.

Posting of Advertising and Outreach Signage

Postings should be of general interest to the campus community. All materials posted in the library will first be approved by the Public Services Assistant staff. Approved materials will be allowed on tables and for posting on the library bulletin boards. Items may not be taped on the walls, stacks, restrooms, elevator, windows, doors, or furniture of the library. Appropriate signage to enable ease of use of the collection will be determined on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the unit Managers. Unless otherwise arranged, items will be posted for a period of 2 weeks then removed. Postings must be appropriately produced (no handwritten postings). The library will allow posting of the items that are provided, but will not provide free copying services. Individual exceptions to this rule can be made at the discretion of the Library Director. Items not cleared with the Public Services Assistant staff will be removed and discarded.

Area Noise

Recognizing that academic learning takes many forms, the library provides appropriate areas for silent research, interactive study, and active learning. Level A and the open Terraces serve as the open interactive spaces where group activity, speaker forum activities, and appropriate socialization activities are welcome. Cell phone usage is allowed in these designated spaces. Level B is designated as the primary small group intensive study work space where quieter level work can be held. Level C serves as the silent, individual study floor. In the case of speakers' forums or special programming occurring on the Terrace levels, the doors to Level B and Level C will be closed in consideration of study needs. Throughout the Library, courtesy and consideration should govern all conversation. If a complaint is made, or if a member of the Library staff judges any activity to be potentially disturbing and inappropriate for the location, the person(s) involved may be asked to move to another area or to cease the activity.

Room Scheduling and Usage

Various offices on campus control the scheduling of rooms in the library building as follows:

Note: The Library maintains first priority in scheduling the B01 Library Instruction Room and the Information Commons in all cases. The Library may bump scheduled users from these rooms up to 72 hours before a scheduled event. For the first two months of each semester the B01 Classroom is unavailable for outside reservations due to the heavy library instruction use. Otherwise, the B01 Library Instruction Room and Information Commons are available for open access when classes are not scheduled. Usage and scheduling exceptions will be granted at the discretion of the Library Director.

Contact Registrar's Office at x3190: B06 serves as a TechWall compliant college classroom and is scheduled through the Registrar's Office.

Contact Education Department at x3298: The curriculum lab is scheduled by the Education Department. The lab remains accessible when classes are not scheduled.

Group study rooms are also available throughout the library. In all cases, groups will be given priority usage over individuals in these group study rooms. Individual users may be asked to move to a different space when a group needs the room for study activities.

Food and Drink

Trexler Library allows the consumption of food and, appropriately covered, drinks in all public spaces of the library. In accordance with college policy, alcohol is not permitted in the library except for officially authorized functions. Library users are expected to appropriately dispose of all trash materials. In the event of a spill library users are asked to notify a staff member so measures can be taken to clean the area.

Destruction of property and vandalism

As is appropriate in any campus building, destruction of property including vandalism to furniture will be handled expediently through report to the campus Public Safety office. Graffiti on furniture, purposeful destruction of books/periodical/AV materials, and other related acts of vandalism will be taken seriously and will result in immediate action in keeping with campus policy.